Offlate the 2004 reviews mentioned "the gadget of year 2004 : iPod". I was wondering what makes this so special that it turned out to be an instant hit. I bought an iPod mini to check it out.
iPod stands as a testimony to apples outstanding designs. The moment I unwrapped the iPod I was searching for the Power On/Off button, which sounded missing. The iPod has an audio socket, one hold button, USB cum Firewire socket, a sleek body and a membrane interface for all the selections(MENU, Fwd, Rwd, Play/Pause). The interface was so intuitive that in couple of minutes I was at home with the operations.
Taking this intuitive interface a step further was Sony`s Qualia series. I had a hands on experience at the Sony Building in Ginza. The gadgets in this series are named "Qualia xxx", xxx is a three digit number.The digital camera "Qualia 016" was one of the smallest in the world.
It had a whole range of accessories :
a. Tele and macro lense extenders.
b. A flash unit.
c. A remote.
d. A view finder extender.
e. Built in image stabilizer.
The sales lady was good enough to explain the features. When asked about the price, she said "Its 4000 USD, we start manufacturing it once you place an order and its completely handmade."
Now all this justifies the price, but something that really defies your imagination is that this doesn't have any power on/off buttons around, instead it has a strip of sensors which operate as you slide your fingers on them. One can do zoom in and out, exposure compensate and browse through the previous clicks. Though I was not able to completely comprehend the technology behind this implementation, it gave me a hint of whats installed for the future.
The above image is the bread board of Qualia 016 on display.
She was kind enough to pose for a snap and I was good enough to goofed it up.
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